With over 6000 languages in the world today, media speak is far from universal, yet the complexities of translation are rarely acknowledged by the industry, or by audiences and scholars. Redressing ...
More

With over 6000 languages in the world today, media speak is far from universal, yet the complexities of translation are rarely acknowledged by the industry, or by audiences and scholars. Redressing this neglect, Speaking in Subtitles aregues that the oddities and idiosyncrasies of translation are vital to screen media’s global address. Examining a range of examples from crowdsourced subtitling to avant-garde dubbing to the growing field of ‘fansubbing’, Tessa Dwyer proposes that film, television and video are fundamentally ‘translational’ media. The case studies in this book explore areas of practice that lie beyond the parameters of professional, ‘quality’ practice and are consequently identified as ‘improper’, such as anime fandom, crowdsourced translation, censorship and media piracy. They demonstrate that in many contexts, issues of speed, access, commerce and control take precedence over considerations of quality. These errant modes of screen translation are becoming increasingly paradigmatic of the current translation and media environments, as they become less controlled and more communal in response to new digital technologies and the decentralising impulses of globalisation. By focusing on lines of ‘errancy’ rather than fidelity, this monograph highlights elements of screen translation that are regularly passed over by other studies in order to re-conceptualise questions of cultural value.Less

Speaking in Subtitles : Revaluing Screen Translation

Tessa Dwyer

Published in print: 2017-06-01

With over 6000 languages in the world today, media speak is far from universal, yet the complexities of translation are rarely acknowledged by the industry, or by audiences and scholars. Redressing this neglect, Speaking in Subtitles aregues that the oddities and idiosyncrasies of translation are vital to screen media’s global address. Examining a range of examples from crowdsourced subtitling to avant-garde dubbing to the growing field of ‘fansubbing’, Tessa Dwyer proposes that film, television and video are fundamentally ‘translational’ media. The case studies in this book explore areas of practice that lie beyond the parameters of professional, ‘quality’ practice and are consequently identified as ‘improper’, such as anime fandom, crowdsourced translation, censorship and media piracy. They demonstrate that in many contexts, issues of speed, access, commerce and control take precedence over considerations of quality. These errant modes of screen translation are becoming increasingly paradigmatic of the current translation and media environments, as they become less controlled and more communal in response to new digital technologies and the decentralising impulses of globalisation. By focusing on lines of ‘errancy’ rather than fidelity, this monograph highlights elements of screen translation that are regularly passed over by other studies in order to re-conceptualise questions of cultural value.

This chapter presents a case study of global TV site Viki (www.viki.com), which offers amateur subtitling in around 200 languages for media from around the world. It focuses on the ways in which ...
More

This chapter presents a case study of global TV site Viki (www.viki.com), which offers amateur subtitling in around 200 languages for media from around the world. It focuses on the ways in which fansubbing and fan repurposing of technology has been adopted in the corporate and media industries via crowdsourcing, underscoring the commerce/community tensions that characterise ‘participatory culture’. In its aim to overcome the geopolitical constraints that limit the availability of media in many parts of the globe, Viki deploys a legal, business framework that overrides the national and linguistic biases of professional subtitling and dubbing via the ‘chaos’ of fan agency and interventionist practice. It also pinpoints the critical role played by language and multilingual publics within the evolving dynamics of convergence. Finally, this case study explores claims that fansubbing and other forms of community translation may be contributing to the ongoing marginalisation of linguistically diverse publics by enabling industry players to continue to underserve minor language communities.Less

Streaming, Subbing, Sharing: Viki Global TV

Tessa Dwyer

Published in print: 2017-06-01

This chapter presents a case study of global TV site Viki (www.viki.com), which offers amateur subtitling in around 200 languages for media from around the world. It focuses on the ways in which fansubbing and fan repurposing of technology has been adopted in the corporate and media industries via crowdsourcing, underscoring the commerce/community tensions that characterise ‘participatory culture’. In its aim to overcome the geopolitical constraints that limit the availability of media in many parts of the globe, Viki deploys a legal, business framework that overrides the national and linguistic biases of professional subtitling and dubbing via the ‘chaos’ of fan agency and interventionist practice. It also pinpoints the critical role played by language and multilingual publics within the evolving dynamics of convergence. Finally, this case study explores claims that fansubbing and other forms of community translation may be contributing to the ongoing marginalisation of linguistically diverse publics by enabling industry players to continue to underserve minor language communities.